Medicine Show

[quikslvr]

A veritable miracle, I tell you! A scent that soothes the spirit and stimulates both the libido and the mind: tobacco, balsam, ginger, elemi and rosewood, with a touch of opium to fuddle your senses.

A bit more direct a tobacco scent at first, but very Perversion-like in its tone. The rosewood is a nice touch, though, if that's the edge I'm smelling as it mellows. Oh, it softens beautifully! If a bit rose-y for me.

But yes: Perversion with a rose drydown, on me.

[gdogs]

this is very odd indeed! i wasn't tempted in the least by medicine show. none of the notes were appealing. but i got an imp of it in a group purchase.

 

at first, i'm smelling something very misty green. like a faint eucalyptus scent.

 

then it hits me that i'm smelling that menthol chewing tabaky that i used to bum off folks. and i get the same stomache turn that i used to get from chewing.

 

 

there's also something that reminds me of my grandma and grandpa's barn. a musty, animal smell and saddle soap. and still that menthol scent. like the muscle ache cream my grandma used to use. i like it for that. it is comforting.

 

and it clears my sinuses.

 

i'm not sorry i didn't get a bottle, but its been interesting to sniff this.

[Krista]

This is spunky! The ginger is very strong. Medicine Show almost smells bubbly, citrussy. It's really cool and fun. I like it a lot!

[LiberAmoris]

Medicine Show is really calming and centering, and it's one of the biggest surprises from the CN series for me. It does smell very medicinal in the bottle, but once on my skin it just blooms. The tobacco comes forward and makes everything slightly smoky and hazy. Then the rosewood and ginger step up and sweeten the tobacco. The balsam only lasts about ten minutes on my skin before it burns off.

 

In the end Medicine Show is a very comforting herbal, yet the tobacco gives it edge. I don't think I need more than one bottle of this, but I'll definitely enjoy what I've got.

 

ETA: To second what quikslvr said above, people who enjoy the tobacco note in Perversion might want to give Medicine Show a go. On me it's an herbal Perversion (!), with no coconut, of course.

Edited August 27, 2005 by LiberAmoris

[Em-]

Something in this blend really did not agree with me - I'm not sure if it was the balsam or the opium, but it was just to strong and heavy for my poor nose to handle. Which is too bad, because I like a lot of other tobacco blends, like Perversion, but unlike others, I do not get the similarity here.

This does smell sort of medicinal, but not in a way that I find soothng or pleasant, but hopefully the imp will be loved in its new home.

[AliBabble]

i really like this one a lot. i'm not sure what i'm smelling (note-wise), i guess it's the tobacco, but whatever it is, it's dark, warm and old-fashioned. definitely smells of roots. bitter, medicinal roots stored in a leather satchel, with a touch of bourbon! there's something masculine here, as in a man in a dusty top hat with a moustache selling bottles of this stuff off the back of a wooden caravan. it's somehow dark in tone, but light - that is, not overwhelming. reminds me of the old west or something.

[summer]

One of my friends from high school and his brother started a fabulous, trippy bluegrass band called Snake Oil Medicine Show. How BPAL is that! So naturally, I had to try Medicine Show for that reason alone, even though the notes didn't particularly appeal to me.

 

So unsurprisingly, this really isn't a great blend on me. As others have said, it's very dark and medicinal. It smells like a jungle clinic filled with all kinds of bitter herbs and anticeptics. Very interesting, but not something I want to smell like. However, I can see this being fresh and lovely on the right man.

 

Edited to add: This gets sweeter and more woody as it dries. Perhaps all is not lost . . .

Edited August 28, 2005 by summer

[tesao]

at first sniff, this was very green, lots of balsam and herb.

 

as it dried down, the tobacco started creeping out around the sides. i get no rose whatsoever in this. none. i suspect that rosewood is a wood, and has nothing to do with a rose flower.

 

in the dry down, there is a woodiness that shows itself between the strong tobacco notes and the teeniest hints of opium.

 

alas, it then went soapy.

 

i enjoy tobacco notes. i love perversion. the tobacco here is quite different, stronger, the way that a tobacco barn smells in the fall. too strong for me. i'll stick to perversion.

[telesilla]

In the bottle and wet: Woody perfume.

 

Drying down: Really sharp and dry. I think I'm getting the rosewood and the balsam.

 

Dry: I can smell the ginger now as well as the rosewood and balasm. No tobacco, which is too bad as I think it would mellow things out a bit. There's a hint of something sweetish as well, maybe the opium. I'm not wild about it, actually. It's just kind of ... meh. (later) It's gone soapy on me as well.

[Nachtwulf]

n the bottle: It seems like a 'clarion spice'... not a warm spice, but sharp and prickly and bright. I can definitely find the ginger and the balsam, though they sort of overwhelm everything else, at least in the bottle. Makes my nose itch a bit.

 

Wet: It reminds me strongly of aftershave with tobacco in it. It's brittle and harsh, and nothing but edges.

 

Dry: It tones down, but it's still very masculine and rather after-shavey.

 

Final Opinion: It'd probably work on a man, but I'm afraid it's not for me. Already swapped off to a good home, though!

[Malista]

Fresh on I get the ginger, elemi and balsam, which, while they have a slight sharpness to them initially, are generally more sweet than medicinal (or I have a much different idea of “medicinal” than most of the reviewers so far). Tobacco (slightly sweet, faintly spicy, smooth and warm) and rosewood join the party to add more warmth and depth to the blend. The opium isn’t a strong note in this, for me, but I think it adds a bit of extra spice and dark resins on the dry down. This ends up, on me, as a warm golden-brown sort of scent with a slight citrus-like tang (no doubt the ginger in one of its many clever disguises) over all the woods and resins. It’s more like an environmental scent than perfume – not in the Room Scent way, but as though one worked with aromatic things that loaned their scents to ones clothing and skin, over time.

 

I can see where some would find this scent masculine. To me it’s aggressively gender neutral not fluffy-bunny femme, but not macho, either. It’s an assertive scent (not powdery or wispy), but it doesn’t have a powerful throw. I think it’s a casual to business casual scent, more outright casual for me; like Geek, this is a blue jeans and boots scent. A guy would likely be just as comfortable wearing it with a suit (or at least a sport jacket) as with jeans and a t-shirt.

[gingersnapp]

This is a sharp, but sweet blend. My skin is amping up the ginger and rosewood, which gives it the sharpness that initially hits my nose, but the elemi and balsam are strong in the background making it almost floral / herbal. I don't get much from the tobacco or opium, but it's very nice overall. Very interesting.

[darkling]

Medicine Show is a dark green scent. The balsam note dominates along with a medicinal scent and a touch of lovely, dark opium.

 

While I enjoy the opium note, I am not a big fan of balsam or green scents.

[quimerula]

It starts a bit medicinal but very nice.

I smell resins, balsam and opium over a tobacco layer.

Sadly the bottom line turns quite bitter on my skin.

[oatmealneko]

Starts off with a zing of ginger, tobacco, & a bit of opium. Green & gingery, very good.

 

Dry - Ginger & tobacco fades. Rosewood & opium are the notes that surface, & rosewood is by far the strongest note. The two get together & give me a horrid opium-rose soap murk, which gets stronger over time. Ugh.

[Little Bird]

Medicine Show reminds me of my dad.

 

To start with, it smells like tobacco and something green and woodsy. It has a hot, damp feel to it, like you would feel in a misty greenhouse filled with tropical plants.

 

My dad used to chew a very sweet tobacco. The tobacco here smells sweet and golden like that.

 

The smell of rose comes out for a while in the middle stage of this. It's rosewood though, so not bitter or overpowering as rose usually is. I really like the way it smells mixed with the tobacco too.

 

In the drydown it smells like tobacco, a hint of spicy rose, and something else. Overall it's reminding me of a spicy man's cologne. This is where it reminds me of my dad. Wearing a slightly rugged spicy/musky cologne and chewing tobacco.

 

I like this a lot. I'll probably wear it as a comfort scent...

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Very sharp - that must the ginger and the balsam. I can tell right away this won't be a scent for me - it reminds me of a yellow vetiver, if that possibly can make sense to anyone.

 

On me: Oh, eew. It's very unattractive on my skin. Somehow it goes to plastic band-aid on me; it may be a cure for all that ails you but if you feel queasy in the process, it's best to pass this one on.

[QueenFae]

I honestly didn't think I would like this one, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find that I do. It's a wonderful, rich, green, herbally smell, but there is a lovely undertone that smooths it out. I guess that would be the opium; it smells wonderful layered under a green scent, which I never would have imagined. The rosewood and ginger are probably the most prominent notes on me. I really find this one intriguing and am happy to have a bottle.

[feline.by.design]

Oh sausages.

 

I don't know what I've done, but as soon as the oil hits my skin, it goes powdery on me. Seriously, Medicine Show smells like a light sort of powder, and nothing much else.

 

Maybe this is some sort of "off" day that I've got going for me, as I wore Versailles earlier today and it smelled powdery, then I showered and tried Medicine Show. Whereas Versailles was sort of coupled with other lovely smells, this smells seriously like Johnson & Johnson's baby powder. There's even this aluminum sort of tang taht JJ's has.

 

Now that I've worn it for about five minutes, it seems like there's some form of dark herbal trying to poke out, but it's being corrupted by the powder, which is now managing to smell like powder-scented deoderant, complete with that smell of sweat. !!! What the hey?! I took a shower!

 

I'm going to give Medicine Show another try in about a week, but if the scent doesn't change, this looks like a swappity-do.

 

-doreen

[Ajila]

In the bottle - medicinal, surprisingly enough, a mixture of menthol and herbs.

Wet on me - sweet, soapy tobacco. The soapiness may be down to lavender. The tobacco note is similar to that in Perversion on me.

2 hours later - Peppery tobacco

4 hours later - Very soft tobacco backed with green lavender.

[maewitch]

This was a very generous freebie in a forum buy, and it's a scent I was curious about, but could not see myself really liking.

 

Wet, I got a very strong and bitter herbal note, which I like. This faded, and I started picking up the tobacco, with something more dark brown underneath - almost like dirt, but not quite.

 

Dry, this is tobacco, darkness and something like leather - actually this smells like the best part of Perversion, before the tonka took over. It's very masculine, but not in an off-putting way. I like it well enough on me, I think I might REALLY like the smell on a man.

[laochodia]

Tobacco and something sharp and green. Reminds me of Tarot: The Hermit, in a way.

[Monster]

Ahhhh...first sniff is all ginger to me. It's a very musky, masculine ginger.

 

On my skin I'm now gettingmostly tobacco and opium. The ginger is only prominent in the backround. This is definilty a medicinal, green scent. It reminds me of shopping through antique stores for onld medicine bottles. There's something bitter and slightly aged smelling in this. Not sure what that is.

 

Overall, this is a masculine scent, but it really smells lovley on me.

I tried this on my boyfriend as well and it smells INCREDIBLE on him. I don't think I've come across a Carnival Noir scent I've disliked yet. This is by FAR some of the best LEs I've smelled ^^

[sideviewhotel]

Hm. I ordered a 5mL of this unsniffed before CN left andddddd I'm not sure where to go with it. It seems very cooling (as opposed to the warmth I'm getting from Harvest Moon '05 on my other wrist), but not completely medicinal, though that's what other people have been saying. I'm starting to get that tobacco smell that I love (one of the reasons why I picked this up in the first place) and I think I'm getting hints of roses, but I'm not sure about that.

 

Still, I have no idea where I stand with this. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. I guess I'll have to let it mellow out a bit before deciding.

[zenvodunista]

oh! it started off so marvelously! it was gingery, then the tobacco -- i thought i smelt leather for a while, and then a spicy rose.

 

now, an hour and a half later it's slowly going to powder on my skin! damn you skin chemistry!

 

no! nooooooooooooooooo!

 

n.